Monday, March 24, 2008

What writers can learn from Project Runway

I'll admit it right now. I love Project Runway. And for someone who's totally not into high fashion (or any kind of fashion, really) that's saying something.

I finally got to watch the finale of season 4, and I got to thinking. What can writers learn from fashion designers? After all, we're both creative types. We both can be attached to our work in sometimes unreasonable ways. Here are some random things writers can learn from Project Runway:

1. Writers need to have confidence in themselves.The fashion designers who succeed on Project Runway are confident in their abilities. Sometimes too confident, but that's another story! It is possible to be confident without being cocky. Believe in your work. Believe in yourself. With God's help, you can become a great writer!

2. Stay true to yourself, but learn from constructive criticism.Don't be so confident that you aren't open to the advice of experts, but still be confident. Be careful who you let read your work. Or at least be careful who's advice you believe. I'll give a lot more weight to the critique of a published novelist than I will say, my neighbor across the street. :) The designers, and writers, who excel are the ones who weigh the criticism carefully and apply what feels right to them, but also discard the extraneous.

3. Don't be afraid to have fun!If you enjoyed "designing" a piece of writing, chances are your readers will enjoy reading it!

About Me

I've been in love with reading since I was a kid dragging home bags of books from the library. When I was twelve I started dreaming about becoming a published author. That dream came true when my first novel Thicker than Blood won a national writing contest. It became the first book in the Thicker than Blood series, which also includes Bound by Guilt, Ties that Bind, and Running on Empty. I have also written Jupiter Winds and Jupiter Storm the first and second books in the Jupiter Winds series. My children's fantasy Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone released in 2017. I live in Pennsylvania with my menagerie of dogs, a tabby cat, and a Paint mare named Sky.

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